Conte hails 'incredible' table-toppers Juventus

Juventus coach Antonio Conte believes his team are setting an 'incredible' pace atop the Serie A table.

Published

16 December 2013

The league leaders bounced back from their UEFA Champions League elimination with a 4-0 thrashing of relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday.

Carlos Tevez netted a hat-trick to go with a Federico Peluso goal as Juve moved six points clear at the top, with Roma's game in hand to come against Milan on Monday.

Conte praised his team for their efforts in the league, having won 14 of 16 games with just one defeat this season.

"We are keeping an incredible pace in the league this year which I believe would be difficult to match, mainly because of the amount of points we have," he said.

"There is obviously the disappointment of not being able to progress from the group stage in the Champions League.

"If we had qualified for the last 16 then you would surely be talking about a phenomenal Juventus and maybe somebody would have said that we could try to win the treble.

"Instead, today we are talking about a Juventus that is doing extremely well in the Serie A but who got kicked out from the Champions League."

Conte played down the significance of Juve's Champions League exit, which came after a controversial 1-0 loss to Galatasaray on the final matchday.

"It is only a slight setback which can happen to a team that, like us, is in a growing phase," he said.

"Let's not forget that three years ago this team didn't play at all in Europe and had finished seventh in the league for two years straight.

"I think it's safe to say that the 'year 0' for Juve was three years ago, so without trying to use other teams as examples I can safely say that in Italy, the 'year 0', was the one we had three seasons ago"